Nearly 120,000 foreign nationals have been allowed to enter the United States since 2005 despite coming from countries designated as state-sponsors of terrorism.

Previously unreleased data from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reveals the scale to which foreign relatives of immigrants in the U.S. have been able to mass immigrate to the country over the last few decades. This process is known as “chain migration,” whereby new immigrants can bring an unlimited amount of foreign family members with them to the U.S.

In total, chain migration has imported more than 117,000 foreign nationals from the three countries that the State Department recognizes as state-sponors of terrorism: Iran, Syria, and Sudan.

Though not being a state-sponsor of terrorism, Bangladesh has been able to send more than 140,000 foreign nationals to the U.S. since 2005 due to chain migration, Breitbart News reported.

This data was released to Breitbart News following a botched ISIS-inspired terrorist attack in New York City this week where 27-year-old Akayed Ullah, a Bangladesh national, allegedly attempted to detonate a suicide bomb.

8,508 Bangladeshi nationals entered n 2005

9,936 entered in 2006

7,765 entered in 2007

7,795 entered in 2008

12,974 entered in 2009

11,407 entered in 2010

13,136 entered in 2011

13,379 entered in 2012

11,346 entered in 2013

14,170 entered in 2014

13,034 entered in 2015

18,051 entered in 2016

Since 2005, 141,501 Bangladeshi nationals have entered U.S. as chain migrants

"More than 140K Bangladeshi nationals — larger than the population of Dayton, Ohio — have entered the US since 2005 for no other reason than to reunite with extended family members." https://t.co/rQ6JPsOCHe

Terrorist-sanctioned countries have also sent nearly 30,000 foreign nationals to the U.S. since 2007 via the Diversity Visa Lottery program that was championed by Sen. Ted Kennedy and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Breitbart News reported.

Under the Visa Lottery, the U.S. randomly gives out 50,000 visas every year to foreign nationals from a multitude of countries, including those with known terrorism problems, such as Iran, Syria and Sudan.

The U.S. has brought in nearly 21,000 Iranian nationals, 2,732 Sudanese nationals and 812 Syrian nationals on the Visa Lottery — not counting subsequent chain-migration of additional unscreened people from those countries — even though all three countries are listed as state-sponsors of terrorism.

In total, about 9.3 million foreign nationals have entered the U.S. since 2005 because of chain migration, making it the largest driver of legal immigration to the country.

As Breitbart News reported, chain migration makes up more than 70 percent of all legal immigration — with every two new immigrants bringing seven foreign relatives with them.

Currently, only one in 15 foreign nationals admitted to the U.S. come to the country based on skills and employment purposes. Though roughly 150,000 employment-based Green Cards are allotted every year, half of those Green Cards actually go to the foreign relatives of employees.

In the last decade, 1.7 million chain migrants have entered the country from Mexico, with the average Mexican immigrant bringing roughly six foreign relatives with them to the U.S. Mexico sends more chain migrants to the U.S. than any other country.

Despite President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ calls for chain migration to be immediately ended by the Republican-controlled Congress, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan have yet to champion the initiative.

So far, legislation such as the RAISE Act and the SECURE Act, both of which would end chain migration, have been stalled in the GOP-led Congress.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.